Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/447

 Text-Books 437 Outlines of Ancient History for the Use of High Schools and Academies. By William C. Morey. (New York: American Book Company. 1906. Pp. 550.) The teachers of the secondary schools are somewhat bewildered by the multiplicity of text-books covering some one of the fields of work laid down by the Committee of Seven. The books are shot out by the publishers like the pneumatic-tube cash-carriers of our department stores; and the teacher takes up first one and then another, and is sorely puzzled to find a raison d'etre for the publication of each new text. He queries if the author has presented the subject-matter in a different way from preceding texts, if he has made any attempt to add or eliminate facts hitherto absent from or found in former books, or if he has changed the emphasis placed on certain portions of the material. To all of these questions the answer is no. Each book is scarcely more than a reproduction of its predecessors. The book under consideration is no exception to this rule. In general it shows most of the qualities now demanded in a text for secondary schools. It is accurate and impartial ; it shows sufficient acquaintance on the part of the author with the results of the most recent investigations ; the language used is simple ; the illustrations picture men or things as they were and include views of ruins and good restorations; the maps relate to the text and places mentioned therein are to be found on them ; pedagogical apparatus, in the form of " syn- opses for review ", " references for reading ", a classified bibliography, and an excellent index, is put in its appropriate place at the close of chapters, or at the end of the book. There are some minute defects. The author might have profited by some earlier criticisms in this Re- view passed upon his Outlines of Greek History: some antiquated illus- trations have been put in; on a few maps there are many names of places not mentioned in the text, and these will only serve to confuse the student ; teachers will miss the well-thought-out and suggestive ques- tions which are to be found in some texts, others will lament the ab- sence of a list of important dates, and still others will feel that the author has not made sufficient use of authentic anecdotes. At times carelessness in proof-reading is observable, as in leaving those puzzling numbers under the illustration on page 208, or in calling all the masks on page 211 "Masks used in Comedy", or in having " Broughton " for Boughton on page 526. By the use of pencil and scissors the author has reduced his Out- lines of Greek History and Outlines of Roman History from a gross total of about 750 pages to this volume of 550 pages. These two ex- cellent manuals have suffered by the process used. The titles of the chapters have been changed. A comparison of the texts, however, shows that much cutting, but little rewriting, has been done. The failure to rewrite is the matter wherein the greatest weakness of this book lies. As it is presumably for pupils of about the age of thirteen